Bible Study Magazine

Here is an excerpt from my contribution to the newest edition of Bible study magazine entitled “He Hears”.

He Hears

It felt like God wasn’t listening.

Scripture is full of verses about God hearing and answering our prayers. “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him” (1 John 5:14–15 esv).

There was a time in my life when I could easily digest these verses. But one day, everything changed: My wife and I had a miscarriage. When one of the most pure and legitimate prayers of my life seemed to go unanswered, I felt like God came up short. I had never had my faith shaken so badly.

It’s hard to reconcile these seemingly unanswered prayers with passages that declare God’s faithfulness. It’s even more difficult when anger and grief cloud your thinking.